PHNOM PENH: In the early morning of July 18, the National Election Committee (NEC) started to send ballots, confidential seals, indelible ink and other materials to be distributed Cambodia’s 25 provinces that will hold national elections on July 23.

NEC spokesman Hang Puthea confirmed that the NEC had printed more than 13 million ballots, over 11 million of which will go directly to the voting stations while more than one million will be held in the provincial capitals. While there are only 9,710,655 people eligible to vote, the government keeps extra ballots on hand to supplement destroyed or mistakenly marked ballots.

Chairman of the National Election Committee, Prach Chan, said that the government had ordered 52,000 bottles of indelible ink from India, which will be distributed to all 23,789 polling stations. An average of two bottles 70ml bottles will be distributed at each station, where Cambodian voters will dip their index finger to prove they have voted.

More than half of the registered voters in this election are women and voter turnout is expected to be high based on the persistent encouragement of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the measures he has put in place such as buses to transport people to their hometowns and requesting employers to give their workers three days off to vote from July 22-24. Campaign season officially ends on July 21, while the 7th National Assembly election will take place this Sunday, July 23.